Elections are a hallmark of democracy, making them prime targets for foreign interference. Find ASD’s work on the foreign threats to election infrastructure and electoral processes, as well as steps democracies can take to secure them, on this page.
How More Robust Election Observation Could Help Save U.S. Elections
The Alliance for Securing Democracy’s David Levine and the Carter Center’s Avery Davis-Roberts make the case that more nonpartisan observation is critical to ensuring the integrity of future elections and provide steps for improving nonpartisan obs [...]
David Levine in The Fulcrum: Texas Puts Its New Elections Law to the Test
Fueled by false conspiracy theories about a stolen presidential election, at least 19 states passed measures in 2021 that make it unnecessarily harder to cast, count and/or certify votes. A Texas law known as SB 1 may be the worst of the lot, and th [...]
David Levine and Daniel Hegedus in The Hill: OSCE Member States Must Deliver on Election Observation Mission for Hungary
Earlier this month, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (“OSCE”), pointedly recommended the deployment of a full-scale election observation mission (“EOM”) — one that includes a core team of analysts as well long and short-term o [...]
David Levine and Daniel Hegedus in EU Observer: Hungary Monitors Not Enough to Stop First ‘Rigged’ Election in EU
Although Europe's main election watchdog, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE-ODIHR), raised significant concerns about the democratic character of Hungary's 2014 a [...]
David Levine in Politico: Why Democrats Shouldn’t Say the Midterms Will Be Illegitimate
We are witnessing an unprecedented attack on our democracy, fueled by baseless allegations that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. Such claims inspired the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and spawned a sort of dual re [...]
David Levine in Idaho Statesman: The Next Election Isn’t Only about Democrats and Republicans. It’s about Democracy
When Idahoans vote in the 2022 elections later this year, Democrats and Republicans will not be the only candidates on the ballot — democracy will be as well. Idaho voters must do their part to ensure that future elections continue to represent the [...]
David Levine Participates in the Association of European Election Officials’ Global Elections Day Summit
The aim of the Global Elections Day (GED) is to celebrate our most important democratic institution: elections. In the past almost two decades Global Elections Day evolved into a tradition, a real celebration organized in democracies throughout the [...]
What to Watch in 2022
As 2022 begins, eyes are trained on the Ukraine-Russia border as the potential for Russian escalation looms large. With nerves taut and gas supplies to Europe squeezed, NATO members are holding emergency meetings as US and European diplomats scrambl [...]
Foreign Interference Conspiracies Can Do More Damage Than Foreign Interference
Earlier this month, the Congressional committee investigating the Capitol insurrection said former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over a PowerPoint titled, “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN.” [...]
How Government Agencies Can Signal Trust Online Using .Gov Domain Names
The name of a website is the key indicator users, operators, and algorithms use to evaluate the authenticity of the owner of that website. So much so that there are frequent, sophisticated attempts to trick users into going to fake websites to steal [...]
David Levine Discusses How to Secure Elections on Votes and Ballots
Elections Integrity Fellow David Levine joined the Votes and Ballots podcast to discuss attacks on public trust in elections and post-election audits. [...]
Laura Thornton on the Summit for Democracy and the State of U.S. Democracy on Background Briefing
We begin with the two-day White House Summit for Democracy beginning on Thursday at which 111 nations will meet virtually to discuss the health of democratic governance and the need to bolster global democracies under attack from authoritarian and k [...]